My Father Isn’t White

my daddy passes for a white guy
I giggled as I told some story
explaining why my sisters and I looked like
a color comparison strip in the makeup aisle

no he doesn’t
my white friend said
my face burned for a second and I changed the subject

Why was I embarrassed?

I had never questioned the stories my family had told
who looked white and who looked like a negrita
my mother’s family was darker
Grandma was so dark she had to sit with
the other black kids

a gatekeeper had firmly stamped my father’s identity
as latino
and I was lost for a moment

not-something is hard to pin down
so I will need to fill it in with me

Image: Jose Cabeza from Pixabay

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